321 weld els?
 

I've been hunting for a local source for weld els and I I found a source that is able to supply me with 321h stainless steel!? From my understanding this is the bee's knees when it comes to manifold matl. Why do I never see it used in turbo manifold construction using pipe? Any one have experience with it?

Because there is nothing wrong with 316 or even 304 schedule 40. It works, it's cheap, and it's radially available.

321 is much more expensive.
That's about it.

Well these are avaliable for 6 bucks each. I may try them. 321 does have superior high heat qualities so why not?

Most of us pay 5-6 bux a piece for regular. I've a hard time believing someone sells it at 6 bux a piece, but if so, and if its the real deal, then yeah that's a fantastic deal.

They are actually 5.23. I have to buy 100 of them. No biggie though, at that price I'll be able to get rid of the extra. Does 341 filler rod sound right?

321 stainless that cheap? holy bugger. 321 is the grade of stainless steel we actually would make our turbo manifolds out of it we werent cheapasses. I think burns recommends 347 filler for 321 stainless. What wall thickness though? The main benefit of going to 321 over 304 is that you'll be able to reliably go thinner than sch40 to cut weight since 321 is going to be stronger at the temps a turbo manifold experiences.

I'm gonna get schedule 10. Schedule 5 is also available. If I didn't have to buy 100 I would give sch 5 a try. Get this, short radius bends are 9 bucks each if ya buy 100. They also have 180 degrees bends.

In before cracks.

I don't care what material you make it out of. Heat doesn't kill manifolds like vibrations do on BP's.

Sounds like there may some people on here interested in these. I was gonna get 1 1/4. Now seeing as I'm getting 100 of these I'll have to be able to unload 80 of em. Would I be better able to unload 1 1/2? That seems to be more popular.

It is the heat the lets the vibrations kill the 304 manifolds on our cars. If you could easily run a 14ga 304S manifold on our cars if it was at room temperature. 304's mechanical properties take a dump once it gets hot.

It's the heat affected zones of the weld, Or the weld that ends up cracking due to vibrations. Probably stemming from microscopic impurities and or porosity in the welds.

You can use titanium, but if it's only schedule 5 it will fail.
You can use regular carbon 10xx and if it's thick enough and welded good it will never fail.

I havent made any manis yet but I was thinking the 321 would be less effeted by welding due to lower amounts of hard, brittle carbides forming. Thus being able to better handle the vibrations.

It also depends on what you're doing and how you do it.

If you go and hang a big heavy turbo off a long tube top mount with no added support the chances of it cracking are greater than a log style with some support.

Really. Who knows. If you do it, make sure to document the process with lots of pictures. Then abuse the piss out of it and report back.

Haha will do! Be awhile though. Got lots of work to do and I know this megasquirt thing isn't going to go smoothly!

Finally placed order with manufacturer.minimum order went from 100 to 1000! Ordered schedule 5 and schedule 10 in 1.25 and 1.5. Also ordered 160 ft of straight pipe! Hopefully I can sell this off. Won't receive till 3/15. If anybody is interested keep your eyes on the clasifieds around that time. Very excited to see how a schedule 5 mani holds up!

I think you will have a tough time selling them all if you bought 1000. There are only a handful or so of us making manifolds on the forums, so selling 900+ of them will be hard.

I will buy 900 of them at $2 each.

Gimme 7 bucks and they are all yours!

Yeah I figure it will take awhile and who knows maybe I'll be stuck with them. But it's worth a shot. Some friends of mine who build manifolds for the AWD crowd have already committed to buying a quite a few of them.

That and I just couldn't bring myself to use 304 when I know there is something better. Now I don't have to!

So you really spend 5grand on weld el's? I am sort of impressed by that.

Until you realize he didnt have to buy that many. You can get 321 stainless weld els in 1.5" sch10 and sch40 for $15-$17 each from ace race. The 1.25 and sch 5 is a bit more difficult.

That price was a large reason I did this. At the price I'm getting these I can sell them for around half that. Also Ace does not have straight sections of 321 pipe nor do they stock schedule 5. Welding 321 to a 304 collector doesn't seem like a good idea. I'm not sure schedule 5 will be adequate but my buddies who do work for AWD platforms and make beautiful stuff seem to believe so. I guess we will see.

My order was a bit shy of 5 grand.

I kinda am too.

Hopefully he puts it to good use.

I drool over my 321 tubular header for my wrx every time I go into the garage

Thanks guys, I aim to please!

Mind linking your source?

M

Yeah I kinda do mind. If this goes well I'll start an llc and do it on the side to support the habit. So I think it's best I keep that to myself. Hope you understand.

Not trying to be a jerk. I just put a lot of time into making this deal happen.

Finally received them keep an eye on the classifieds if interested.

Wow, a Miata owner with money!

You have my attention now.

Ace now has 321 weld els and pipe.

Weld Els 321 Stainless - Ace Race Parts

http://www.aceraceparts.com/stainles...bb65-161586329

wow that is not bad at all

Now get a quote from BMC race on a 321 flange. I pooped a little, when I asked it was 2 bills.

ouch. but even still you're looking at like 5-600 for a short tubular, which isn't bad

Pro-tip goto PRL motorsports and get flanges from them instead. I have had Dennis there copy my BMC ones and he gets them made in a timely maner and is cheaper. Not sure what they would charge for 321 flange.

That would be nice, the BMC timeframe was basically, when its done. It was worth it because they were the only ones that did it at the time and no squishing of tubes required. And of course back then, the 321 weld els were going to be like $10 a pop.

damn them at Ace Race! Thought i was ahead of the curve here. 321 flat stock is stupid expensive 700 for 1/2'' x 4'' x 20'. Being a tool and die maker my first thought was to machine my own 321 flanges. But for that price, fudge that. I'll stick with hot rolled and blanchard ground.

Still have any of these laying around?

we made my manifold from 321 weld els back in the day, its now 10years old and has had a couple of small cracks, but lasted really well.